What is the name of your state? MD
Less than a year ago my wife and I moved into a townhouse community that was built as a condominium. It has come to light through our financials that our community has burned through nearly 40k in reserves during the last 3 years. This is primarily due to increases in insurance on the master policy and a lawsuit brought against our community / property management company. The arbitrator ruled in favor of the community/property management co, but ruled that the legal fees could not be passed on to the individual homeowner. The legal fees were approx. 10K now being passed on to the property owners. Our community has also become blacklisted in the insurance industry due to numerous claims brought against the master policy. To combat the increases in insurance, the deductible on the master policy was raised from 1K to 10K in hopes of preventing future claims. Shortly after this happened another 11K claim was filed and in our last meeting it was brought up that the deductible could be raised again. The idea of raising the deductible so high that no claims can be filed against it is ridiculous as a large portion of our monthly dues is paying for this insurance. One community member suggested that the master policy contained more than is required by law and perhaps certain items could be eliminated to reduce the cost. The property management company said they cannot, but I would like to find out whether we are paying for more insurance than we actually need. Our dues have been raised $17.25/mth this year and they are now voting to issue a special "one time" assessment of $750 per unit. Many homeowners cannot afford this and the idea of converting from a condo to hoa was brought up. The majority of the community is tired of being prisoners in our own homes and feeling hijacked by an insurance policy we have no control over. We also feel the property management company is no longer working in our best interest. Looking for advise on what is/is not required on a condo master insurance policy, can you maintain the status of a condominium without a master policy and have homeowners obtain their own hazard insurance or can you convert from a condo to hoa and what is required.
Less than a year ago my wife and I moved into a townhouse community that was built as a condominium. It has come to light through our financials that our community has burned through nearly 40k in reserves during the last 3 years. This is primarily due to increases in insurance on the master policy and a lawsuit brought against our community / property management company. The arbitrator ruled in favor of the community/property management co, but ruled that the legal fees could not be passed on to the individual homeowner. The legal fees were approx. 10K now being passed on to the property owners. Our community has also become blacklisted in the insurance industry due to numerous claims brought against the master policy. To combat the increases in insurance, the deductible on the master policy was raised from 1K to 10K in hopes of preventing future claims. Shortly after this happened another 11K claim was filed and in our last meeting it was brought up that the deductible could be raised again. The idea of raising the deductible so high that no claims can be filed against it is ridiculous as a large portion of our monthly dues is paying for this insurance. One community member suggested that the master policy contained more than is required by law and perhaps certain items could be eliminated to reduce the cost. The property management company said they cannot, but I would like to find out whether we are paying for more insurance than we actually need. Our dues have been raised $17.25/mth this year and they are now voting to issue a special "one time" assessment of $750 per unit. Many homeowners cannot afford this and the idea of converting from a condo to hoa was brought up. The majority of the community is tired of being prisoners in our own homes and feeling hijacked by an insurance policy we have no control over. We also feel the property management company is no longer working in our best interest. Looking for advise on what is/is not required on a condo master insurance policy, can you maintain the status of a condominium without a master policy and have homeowners obtain their own hazard insurance or can you convert from a condo to hoa and what is required.